Hyderabad: In a bid to make agriculture a profitable and sustainable vocation, AP agriculture minister P. Pulla Rao presented the Agriculture and Allied Sectors Budget, valued at Rs 13,110.39 crore, in the Assembly on Friday.
Minister Pulla Rao said that the Budget plan is of Rs 6,736.44 and non-plan Budget is of Rs 6,373.95 crore. He said Rs 5,000 crore was allotted for waiver of farm loans.
He said that AP is considered to be the ‘rice bowl of India’ and 62 per cent of its people are dependent on agriculture. He said that the government has targeted to produce 127.04 lakh metric tonnes of food grains this year. He said during 1993-2003, 310 farmers had committed suicide while between 2004-14, 1,943 farmers had killed themselves.
Under the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), soil mapping and testing will be taken up in every village of AP to reduce costs for farmers and increase agriculture productivity, the minister informed the House.
The minister said Rs 212 crore has been allocated for developing and supply of certified seeds on subsidy to farmers and Rs 90 crore for modernising agri-related service centres.
The government decided that crop loan interest for loan between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh would be 0.25 paise (Pavala Vaddi), if repaid on time.
In addition, farmers can avail of interest-free loans for crop loans below Rs 1 lakh.
Under Rajiv Krishi Vikas Yojana an interim allocation of Rs 237 crore has been made to agriculture and allied sectors.
